Chapter 3: Anna
Jane awoke feeling more tired than when she'd gone to sleep. The sights and sounds of Liz's conversion had kept playing around in her head and she'd found it hard to stop thinking about Tanya. The result had been a night of fitful sleep and tossing and turning. She prepared herself for the day putting on her patrol uniform, making herself something to eat and then heading to the morning debrief in the council building.
While Eric explained the situation to all the patrol groups Jane took the chance to look around at the worried faces. She noticed that only Liz and Tanya were missing. The fact that no one else was taken yesterday was good news and she felt the weight lift slightly from her shoulders. There were 40 patrol guards and the fact they'd now be patrolling separately sped up their daily routine significantly. No one really liked to be beyond the village boundary.
As the briefing was called to an end Jane got up to leave but Eric called over.
'Morning Jane, You sure you're ok to work today?'
'Yes sir, I'd rather just get on with it.'
'That's what I thought. Would you mind taking Anna out with you? It'll only be for today. Just feel her first outing should be supervised' For the first time Jane noticed a small woman in her early twenties just a bit behind Eric. She was short and skinny with mousey hair and large green eyes.
'I can assure you she passed all the training.' Continued Eric.
'Yeah sure. Come on Anna, we'd better go.' Said Jane wearily and started to walk toward the exit. Anna followed. After a few minutes of silent walking Anna decided to try and break the tension
'Thanks for helping me.' she ventured
'Don't mention it. Look, we're about to leave the village. It's probably best we stay silent. We can talk lots when we get back.' Said Jane 'If we get back' She thought to herself.
The pair left the village and treaded silently through the forest eastwards. They walked silently in almost a straight line for 2 hours before stopping for a brief silent break. Anna had never been this far from the village and she was slightly nervous to get back but she tried to enjoy the forest whilst they sat. After 10 minutes they continued along their route turning South West before they would eventually turn North west to complete their triangular circuit. When they were about an hour from completing their route Anna pulled up sharp. She signalled for Jane to crouch down with her and indicated that she'd heard something. They looked around until Jane caught sight of two figures coming from the East towards them. They both knew if they tried to hide they'd be spotted. They had to run. They launched off in opposite directions. Jane to the South and Anna to the North. The figures split and gave chase.
Anna had been running flat out for 10 minutes before she risked looking back. She couldn't make out anyone following her so she pulled up behind a tree to catch her breath all the time listening for sounds that could be another human. Nothing. She was alone. She tracked the direction of the sun and turned to go home and report what had happened but as she stepped out from behind the tree she felt a sharp pain like a bee sting in her neck. Her hand instantly raised to the site of the pain where it found a bright purple blow dart. She felt her heart skip and ran again. The soldier hiding in the tree didn't bother following her. His job was done.
About the same time as the patrols were being briefed Michael stepped into the Intelligence centre lab to find a small note from Eve stating that she'd left very early to collect data from yesterday's incident site. There was nothing unusual about it so Michael carried on setting up for his day's work. He was the only other person on the intelligence team besides Eve and he enjoyed his work. Well he enjoyed the science part of it. The attempts at espionage and other spy stuff bored him. Give him some enemy tech and he'd be happy all day. Unfortunately it had been a long while since he had had anything real to look at so he'd spent his days on data analysis and intercepting signals. Not that it ever got him anywhere. He sighed. It was going to be another one of those days.
Around midday he was getting ready to eat. A morning of number crunching had his head in a spin. Food would help. But as he was taking his first bite Jane and Anna burst into the lab looking very worried. Jane marched over to where he sat and placed a blow dart on the table in front of him.
'What is this?!' She demanded as Michael picked it up and looked closer.
'Calm down. Where did you get it?' He asked, trying to relax the atmosphere which was tense enough to cut with a knife. Jane took a deep breath and visibly calmed.
'We were ambushed in the forest and as we fled this was fired into Anna's neck.'
'Ok let's have a look' Said Michael crossing to a microscope
'How are you feeling Annabella?' He asked
'It's Anna! And I feel fine. Just worried about that dart' Replied Anna curtly. She hated to be called by her full name.
'Well It's a good sign that you feel normal. They have darts that can do some nasty things. Ah, here we go. The dart did contain something. Something purple in colour.' He altered the settings on his microscope.
'I've seen this before briefly. Give me a second.' He pulled a journal from a book shelf and flicked the pages. The others watched closely.
'Ah here are. A purple serum shot within a dart. Found date blah blah blah. Effect on Human females: The serum once in the body will multiply and expand throughout changing the body as it goes. This may happen in a matter of hours or up to a few weeks. The end result leaves the victim looking like a bimbo. There appears to be no effect on brain capacity or skin sensitively. Oh dear.'
Michael and Jane were staring at Anna. Neither wanting to speak first. Anna broke the silence herself.
'So what now?'
'Well I guess you'll have to go into quarantine until we can work out what to do next. Sorry' Replied Michael.
'Quarantine!' Anna called out in shock.
'It's the safest way.' Said Jane softly.